ENG-1988 — Page 382

THE ENVIRONMENT

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frequent warnings with advice on necessary precautions are issued and widely dissemi- nated. Other warnings include thunderstorms, flooding, landslip, storm surge, fire danger, strong monsoons and frost. Specialised weather services are provided to engineering contractors, public utility companies, public transport operators and other commercial enterprises. The scope of these services covers requirements for both the operations within and around the Hong Kong territory and offshore operations in the South China Sea.

During 1988, major efforts were directed to disseminate more effectively up-to-date weather information to the public, the media and other users. Weekly weather programmes were presented by forecasters of the Royal Observatory on both the Chinese and English channels of a television station to provide an in-depth discussion of recent weather events. Two special bulletins with weather charts as illustrations were prepared for the press each day. When warranted, live interviews and briefings were given by forecasters over radio and television. For members of the public requiring instant access to weather forecasts or tropical cyclone information, the observatory has implemented a dial-a-weather service. The system grew rapidly in recent years. There were six Chinese and two English dial-a-weather lines in operation and on average 3 000 calls were handled daily with up to 420 calls per hour at times. Around one million calls were expected in 1988. Tailor-made weather information for special users were supplied through teletype, telex or telefax. The Royal Observatory also provides information to the INFOTEX and INFOFAX, which effectively make available to telex and telefax terminal holders a large variety of routine weather information, including pictorial information such as the daily weather map.

To enhance public awareness of the weather warning services in Hong Kong and of how the media helped in conveying weather messages, an open exhibition was held on World Meteorological Day, March 23, 1988. Over 6 500 people viewed the exhibits which were also subsequently shown at five housing estates.

Weather Monitoring and Prediction

To provide a wide range of meteorological services, the Royal Observatory monitored local weather round the clock. Weather observers at the Royal Observatory Headquarters, Hong Kong International Airport and Cheung Chau kept a continuous watch on local condi- tions. Additional observations were made by the Marine Department at Waglan Island and Green Island, by the Royal Navy at Tai O and by the Royal Air Force at Sek Kong.

A network of automatic weather stations, designed and built by the observatory, telemetered weather data to the Central Forecasting Office in the observatory head- quarters from Ta Kwu Ling, Lau Fau Shan, Tsing Yi, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun. The establishment of these stations was a first step towards providing more localised weather information to the densely populated new towns. Plans were also at hand to provide a regional weather service in the near future. In collaboration with the Guangdong Meteo- rological Bureau, the observatory operated an automatic weather station at Huangmao Zhou, an island 40 kilometres south of Lantau Island to monitor vital information when tropical cyclones approached from the south.

Rainfall figures have always been important in Hong Kong because of their relation to water supply and also because of the susceptibility of slopes to landslips in heavy rain. A dense network of about 140 raingauge stations over Hong Kong provided comprehensive coverage for information on rainfall intensity and distribution. In this network, 66 stations were equipped with up-to-the-minute automatic raingauges which relayed information for monitoring flooding and landslips in the territory. Rain intensity within 500 kilometres of Hong Kong was monitored by a digital radar system which also produced objective